Face to Face With Barack Obama: He Talks Education, Healthcare, Unions (video too)

http://www.diversityinc.com/public/1880.cfm

By Jennifer Millman
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America's union movement represents 10 million "working men and women of every race and ethnicity and from every walk of life." In the 2004 presidential election, union household members cast 25 percent of the votes—and first-term Illinois Sen. Barack Obama is working aggressively to secure this powerful voting bloc in 2008.

More than 700 union members and their families crowded into the War Memorial in Trenton, N.J., Monday to listen to Obama speak on the issues most important to them and to have an opportunity to voice their concerns to the senator. The New Jersey chapter of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) hosted the town-hall meeting, which drew people from across the state and was part of the "Working Families Vote 2008" campaign.

Entering to "Ain't No Stopping Us Now," which has become a trademark song of his campaign, Obama began with a historic anecdote that no doubt resonated in some way with each individual in the hall—and with every American family, union or not.

In 1968, 1,300 primarily black sanitation workers went on strike in Memphis, Tenn., to protest low wages and abhorrent working conditions. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. traveled to Memphis to support the workers, and on April 3, he issued his famous "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech—the last civil-rights speech King gave before being assassinated on April 4 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. Coretta Scott King returned days later to march with the workers, who won the right to unionize.

"That's the legacy that all of you here inherit today, what they made real in Memphis, you make real today," said Obama, amid deafening applause. "It's a challenging time for labor and for the country—all across America, I meet people expressing anxiety about the future," said Obama, noting that new rules exist in today's tech-driven global economy. "Who's going to stand up for them in this new world?"

Subscribe now to get DiversityInc's June issue, which will provide in-depth coverage of Sen. Obama's and other candidates' views on the issues most important to you. The June issue will tell you which of the eight major presidential candidates has the worst campaign-staff diversity.

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